


Release Me If You Please

by Dikhotomia



Series: Whumptober 2k19: FE3H Edition [28]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Day 28 Beaten, F/F, Rhea has had enough, Thales being awful as usual, just this is in between some things, so has Edelgard, the actual scene is hinted at, we're back to Truth Between The Lines verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 03:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dikhotomia/pseuds/Dikhotomia
Summary: "There was one thing she did know, she still absolutely didn't like Thales. In fact, she'd come to like him even less as time wore on, finding his (fortunately) infrequent visits grating on every level. Grinding glass into fraying nerves every single time she heard his voice or saw his face. Edelgard had asked her to wait, had requested her patience and she had every intention of giving her that time. But she was beginning to really loathe this, his mocking words and his questions she refused to answer. His habit of taking out his anger on her for her refusals, for the fact that she was what and who she was."The Emperor has taken quite an interest in you."ORThales' temper gets the better of him, Rhea stops giving a crap.





	Release Me If You Please

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place between "The Truth Between The Lines" and "The Etchings On Your Skin."

The air between them is...different. Outright hostility having melted away into wariness. To eyes that always watched and observed instead of offering glares and sharp edged sneers. It feels odd to share a space with the Emperor now, the hackles that always rose whenever the other woman stepped into her cell only a minor stir. There was still too much she didn't know or understand about Edelgard, the other woman still choosing to play her cards close to her chest. She would be told what Edelgard wanted her to be told, when Edelgard decided.

Not a moment sooner.

So Rhea fell into the new role she had been given, a looser chain, a bigger cell. A caretaker who actually bothered to feed her meals instead of scraps, and Edelgard's occasional company. They spoke about various things, whether it be the war, the past, or anything in between. Sometimes they still argued, disagreements in their beliefs leading them to lock horns, to try and make the other understand, suffering under their mutual stubborn natures.

But they had found common ground, and it was because of that common ground the arguments didn't become fights like before. No one moved, no guard got startled into action. No voices were raised higher than necessary. She wasn't sure how she felt about it all.

Still wasn't sure.

"I'm surprised."

There was one thing she did know, she still absolutely didn't like Thales. In fact, she'd come to like him even less as time wore on, finding his (fortunately) infrequent visits grating on every level. Grinding glass into fraying nerves every single time she heard his voice or saw his face. Edelgard had asked her to wait, had requested her patience and she had every intention of giving her that time. But she was beginning to really loathe this, his mocking words and his questions she refused to answer. His habit of taking out his anger on her for her refusals, for the fact that she was what and who she was.

"The Emperor has taken quite an interest in you."

Her eyes flick up from the book perched in the cradle of her palms, eyebrow raising subtly. She doesn't deign him with a reply other than her fleeting attention, waiting. His walk from the door to where she sits is a slow one, and she registers his frustration immediately. 

"She's been coming here every chance she gets, tell me, what is it you two discuss? She's not the most forthcoming woman, as I'm sure you know."

Slowly she shuts the book, chain jingling faintly as she sets it aside. "Nor am I, as _you_ are well aware," she replies finally, folding her hands across her knee. "So I have no intention of enlightening you of my conversations with her." Just as she had, at first, had no intention of talking to Edelgard, or telling Thales the location of the remainder of her family. And she had weathered the beatings he'd ordered in retaliation. It was cathartic to see him get caught the one time he bothered to raise a hand himself.

"I must admit I'm not sure how she's even come to trust you, neither of you have much reason for it."

The words come as a surprise, eyebrows raising, lips parting on a look both amused and startled. "I have no reason to trust you, either. Lord _Arundel_," she returns, back straightening, shoulders squaring. "You have given me absolutely nothing, nor have you treated me well, with all your demands and your 'oversights'. You made it quite clear that you despised me." It furthers his annoyance, and she watches with a great amount of caution. 

"She's falling for it, you and your lies and your manipulations." He paces, hands folded behind his back. "Your kind...I'll never forgive you." They've done this before, his hatred of her spiraling out of his control even while he tries to pick and pull at her defenses. She's tired of it, fingers tapping against the fabric of her dress.

"How many times must we repeat this conversation until you are satisfied?" She asks, stilling when he stops, wheeling on her with a look that promises nothing pleasant.

"I won't be," he says, striding across the cell until his too close for comfort, her back hitting the stone wall behind her. "I won't be satisfied until you and every single one of your kin are dead."

"You brought your fate upon yourself," she snaps, the frustration of this cyclical discussion finally breaking through the reserve of her patience with him. With all of this. "You made the choice to attack the Goddess and for it you were punished for your hubris." She wonders about him then, about all of Those Who Slither and their full history. Wonders who it was of the Agartheans that survived and hid away to bring about this splinter group of them. 

The first blow comes while she's distracted with her thoughts, snapping her head to the side and filling her mouth with the faint taste of copper where her teeth catch the inside of her cheek. The second she catches, hands on his wrist, body twisting to yank him off balance and forward. Her forehead impacts brutally with his nose, cartilage snapping underneath the force of it. Thales stumbles away and she follows him, hitting the end of the chain. "I will no longer stand your behavior," she hisses. "You may one day still get your wish, Thales, but it will be at the Emperor's discretion. Not your own."

"You," he grits out, and she takes satisfaction in the thickness of his voice, a clear sign of a broken nose. "You will be made to regret this."

"No," she replies, chin angled up in defiance. "I am afraid I will not. No matter what childish punishment you have in mind."

\------

It turns out to be exactly what she thought it would, eyes narrowing when the familiar black clad guards come in, grim faced and determined. 

She fights them, just like every other time.

They don't stop until she's unconscious.

\------

"Rhea!"

She doesn't have the energy to move, slitting open an eye to look up at where Edelgard stands above her, worry and horror written plainly on her features. "What on earth happened?"

She tries to summon her voice, getting out nothing more then a grunt. Everything hurts, aches and throbs and pains all clamoring for her fractured attention. She hears Edelgard shouting for her guards, orders barked for a healer, then the other woman is at her side again, kneeling down, gloved hands cool on her forehead. She wants to sleep more, she thinks, sleep and let her body repair itself. It would be so easy to close her eyes again, cringing when Edelgard finally lifts her.

Careful, easy, slow. Pausing when she hisses her discomfort.

"I imagine you would be more comfortable anywhere but the floor," she murmurs, shifting to place her down on the cot. The cot is marginally more comfortable on the bones she thinks may be fractured or broken, her breath wheezing awkwardly in her chest. Nothing's punctured, and the metal in her mouth flavor comes from the split lip and the cuts on the inside of her cheek.

"This was Thales' doing, wasn't it?" 

"Not...exactly, no," she replies, finding enough energy to speak, summoning up the reserve from however long she had been laying on the floor. "It was people loyal to him." On his orders, like every other time. But this was the first time Edelgard had found her in a state other than 'healthy.' 

The healer arrives before they get a chance to speak further, the woman bustling in and politely excusing the interruption. Edelgard vanishes from her line of sight, the healer replacing her. 

"Rest, Rhea." She hears Edelgard say, and she turns her head to find where she stands still so close nearby. "I must rethink where to hold you, I will not have another repeat of this."

She closes her eyes again as the healer gets to work.


End file.
